Dunstaffnage Castle

My history of Scotland is sparse.

I think the Scotti came from Ireland, conquered what is now Argyll and Bute, that someone was called Lorn and lent his name to the area surrounding Oban, and that the Scotti built great stone castles at the entrances, many of which stand today and depicted above is one such castle.

I learnt all of that from an exhibition in the distillery. This castle was built for the MacDougall clan if I remember rightly. I also read that the clans ruled Scotland until the middle of the 18th century in some shape or form. I also know that England and Scotland were united in 1707 but that's not really important: they're united now but the administration is quite different.

I'll brush up on my history someday.

The photographer taking a likely much better shot of the remains of this 13th-century beast is my brother Daniel, which is why I chose this shot over its main competitor which featured a silvery tree towering above the western wall of the castle, almost cradling it. I wanted one featuring him and one featuring me over our four days in Scotland.